


Story Time

by flootzavut



Series: Next Time Deuterocanon [2]
Category: MASH (TV)
Genre: Angst, Episode Related, Episode Tag, Episode: s04e08 The Kids, Friendship, Gen or Pre-Slash, M/M, Possibly Pre-Slash, Season/Series 04, Swamp(y) Kisses, nexttimeverse, queer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-10
Updated: 2018-04-10
Packaged: 2019-04-21 07:12:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14279718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flootzavut/pseuds/flootzavut
Summary: "C'mon, Beej, you can't leave a fella with a cliffhanger like that, it's not kind."Androcles and the Lion, Hawk and Beej. A tag for The Kids.





	Story Time

**Author's Note:**

  * For [onekisstotakewithme](https://archiveofourown.org/users/onekisstotakewithme/gifts).



* * *

_**Story Time** _

* * *

 

"You okay, Beej?"

If it were anyone else, BJ would be annoyed to have someone intrude on his solitude, but when it's Hawk, it's... okay. BJ's come to rely on Hawkeye so heavily, so quickly, and it's sometimes a little frightening, but he's glad of it all the same.

He shrugs. He's not okay, but it's not like there's anything anyone can do about it. "Couldn't sleep."

"I gathered." Hawk leans against him, and they look up at the stars which are maybe the only good thing about this place. (Besides Hawkeye.)

They stand in silence for a while, then, "It's the kids, isn't it? And Erin."

It's not really a question. Hawk has him figured out.

"Meg was telling Potter they pick up spent mines for brass. Hawk, I feel... so goddamn helpless."

Hawkeye loops an arm around his shoulders, and BJ nestles in gratefully. "We all do," Hawk says softly, with his usual combination of blunt honesty and deep compassion. "You're not made to cope with this degree of human suffering, Beej. Nobody is. But those kids' lives are better for you being here."

BJ rubs a hand over his face and tries to swallow back the lump in his throat. He can't speak.

Hawk pulls him into a tight hug, and BJ clings on, digging his fingers into Hawk's back, holding on to Hawkeye and the reassurance he offers.

"You still owe me the end of that story," Hawk murmurs after a while.

BJ chuckles, and sniffs back the emotions he can't deal with right now. "You know how it ends," he protests.

"So?"

"So you're an idiot."

Hawk shrugs. "Like that's news."

There's another silence, then, "C'mon, Beej, you can't leave a fella with a cliffhanger like that, it's not kind."

BJ can't help laughing at Hawk's ridiculous teenager whine, and maybe that's the point. "Okay, okay," he says. "Where did I get to?"

"The gigantic, ferocious lion was about to rip Androcles limb from limb."

"Oh, of course. So Androcles was thrown into the arena and they let out a lion to tear him to pieces-"

"A gigantic, ferocious lion."

"Yes."

"You didn't do the voice."

BJ blinks. "What?"

"I want the silly voices."

"How old are you?"

"Beej, we're in a war zone knitting soldiers together for peanuts. I want the silly voices."

BJ can't argue with that. At least with it being dark and the pair of them still hugging like it's the end of the world, Hawk can't insist on the faces too. "Okay, it was a gigantic,  _ferocious_  lion," he says, in the most over the top way he can summon, and he's rewarded with Hawk's soft laughter in his ear. "And Androcles thought he was going to die, but to everyone's surprise, the lion did not tear Androcles to pieces."

"No?"

"See, it turned out that it was the same lion whom Androcles had helped years before. The lion recognised him, and instead of hurting him-"

"The lion  _recognised_  him?"

"Yes, and then it-"

"I don't know, Beej, that doesn't sound very realistic."

BJ drops his forehead to Hawk's shoulder and lets out a laugh that's half exasperation. "And you wonder why I don't tell you stories?"

"Well if you won't finish it," says Hawkeye, "let me."

BJ sighs. "Okay."

"So the way I heard it," Hawk goes on, slipping easily into a storytelling cadence (BJ knew he was holding out, the fink), "the lion came right up to Androcles and rubbed up against him like a huge house cat, and petted him." Hawk strokes BJ's hair and BJ grins. "So Androcles and the lion were set free because of their friendship."

BJ nods. "Yeah, that's how I heard it."

There's another long pause.

"Beej?" Hawk's using the quiet, sincere tone he uses when he means to be heard.

"Yes?"

"My life's better because you're here, too."

It's not what BJ expected. He takes a shaky breath and pulls Hawk into an even tighter hug. He can't imagine life here without Hawkeye; he doesn't want to try. He opens his mouth but no words come out, so he just holds on as hard as he can.

Eventually, BJ's eyes start drifting shut, and Hawk chuckles when BJ sags in his arms.

"Think you can sleep now?"

BJ opens his mouth to speak, and a huge yawn tumbles out instead.

"I'll take that as a maybe."

They draw back slowly, even reluctantly, and look at each other in the dim light. Hawk keeps a hold of BJ's shoulders for a moment, squeezes gently. "You okay, BJ?"

BJ wonders how many times Hawk's asked him that since he arrived in Korea. Dozens. More. He's so damn grateful for Hawkeye, so much more than he could put into words.

On a whim, he hooks a hand around the back of Hawk's neck, tugs him in close, and presses a soft kiss to his cheek. "Thanks, Hawk," he says, and it's probably a measure of how much he surprised Hawkeye that the only answer is uncharacteristic silence.

Then BJ yawns again, a ridiculous yawn that comes out sounding a little like his lion noises, and they both laugh.

"C'mon, sleepyhead," Hawk says, wrapping his arm around BJ to keep him upright.

"Hawk?" BJ asks, as they head back to the Swamp.

"Yeah?"

"Will you tell me a bedtime story?"

The laughter carries them all the way home.

_~ fin ~_

**Author's Note:**

> This story is canon for my [Next Time 'verse](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1003755).
> 
> If you're interested in talking to folks in the fandom, please come join us in [The Swamp](https://discord.gg/H5nHFr4), which is a MASH Discord server where quite a few MASH readers, writers and artists hang out :D


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